Samuel G. Katz M.D., Ph.D.

Research Summary

The goal of the Katz laboratory is to selectively control the cell death machinery for therapeutic benefit. Toward that end a multidisciplinary approach is applied to understand how mammalian cells are conditioned to expire, and how mutations in essential apoptotic regulators lead to developmental defects or malignancy. In particular, BCL-2 family proteins are vital regulators of mitochondrial integrity and have been implicated in the development, maintenance and chemoresistance of numerous cancers. While the basic mode of BCL-2 family action is established, how this pathway is integrated in the context of various cellular programs, including alternate survival and death pathways, is not nearly as well understood.

Thus, we focus on:

severe apoptotic blockades in cancer stem cells;

loss of pro-apoptotic BCL-2 family members in mantle cell lymphoma as well as other cancers; and